Keep On Going

Alright. So it was another late workout for me today but at least I got it done! It’s not easy for me to make myself continue on this pilates challenge but every time I start thinking negative I just remind myself how much that I hate to lose and that not finishing this challenge means that I have lost. And for some reason that reminder keeps me going!

I was sore from being on my feet all day at work and now that I finished the ab workout for today, I am just telling myself to be thankful it wasn’t a leg workout day! I may be sore but it’s not the first time and it will get better!

Okay, that’s enough positive thinking for one night! I have successfully finished all the teen days of this challenge and will be in the twenties tomorrow!

Late Night Workout

What a day today has been! Due to the fact that I had to be at work at 8 a.m. this morning, I did not complete my daily pilates workout until just now. And I would just like to say that trying to do those workouts after you have been at work for 9 1/2 hours is pure torture! My legs were killing me! My butt was too but I think that’s just left over pain from work and yesterday’s workout!

But unfortunately, I do have to admit defeat with today’s videos. At least for the second one. The second video today was an ab workout while doing the ABC’s and I have to admit that I was unable to finish it without taking a break. Both times I went  through the alphabet (first time for upper abs, second time for lower) I had to stop for a second around the letters G and N.  But hey, at least I finished the video and didn’t just give up! Got to look at the positive here!

I’m really proud that even though I had a really busy day at work, I still got my workout in for the day. Now, I just need to keep the momentum up! I have a very busy schedule for the next three days and honestly I’m trying to pencil in time to sleep. But I will get through it and when I finally have an off day from work on Monday, I will be so happy to sit down for longer than 20 minutes at a time!

I hope all of you are having a great week so far and thanks for reading!

Start of Week 2!

I can’t believe that I am already starting on week two of beginners pilates! I also can’t believe that I am still doing it! In the past, I’ve always given up around day four of the schedule so I am very proud to say that I have now officially completed day eight!

It was a great thing that I had my rest day from the workout plan yesterday because work gave me the full body workout. We were having a company come in to clean all the wood flooring so we had to move everything out of the way! Now I don’t know if you have ever bumped into a isle display at a large retail store such as Walmart, Target, or Bed Bath and Beyond but if you have, you know that they don’t budge very easily. Some of them do because they are on wheels but unfortunately at my place of work, there are only like three of those out of about 18. Anyways, I had to get down on my hands and knees alongside one of my coworkers and push most of the displays at work off to the side. Can’t imagine why it was so tough? Let me try to paint a clearer picture. A display full of sheets that has five shelves on all four sides had to be pushed to on side of the isle. We tried to work with the displays that never move because they are either a)bolted to the ground or b)too large to push- at least we thought they were. We put our feet against those to give us something to push off of while we tried to shove the isle displays over. You probably don’t understand any of that but that is just because I am pretty bad at using words to try and explain physical activities.

Anyways, I woke up today sore in my legs and arms. But I refuse to let a little pain keep me from finishing this workout calendar! So after teeming up with my roommate to kill not one, not two, but three huge spiders in our apartment, I rolled out my beach towel and got ready for workout time with Cassey Ho! After doing all three videos for the day, I can say that thankfully the pain from last night is not nearly as noticeable but I can’t tell if that’s from being sore in new places or if the stretching actually just got rid of it.

With day eight now completed, all I have left for the day is to go to work! But today shouldn’t be nearly as bad as last night! Hopefully it’s a simple and quiet night!

Sunday Fun Day

Happy Sunday everyone!

Seeing as I am writing this, it is clear that I survived work last night! Thankfully it was pretty slow so I wasn’t running for the entire time but I was doing a lot of moving and setting up displays! Besides surviving work yesterday, I also learned that my phone tracks how many steps I take! Now I didn’t know how accurate it actually is so I teamed up with one of my coworkers who wears a pedometer all the time and compared the data for one lap around the store. And they actually came back very close! What I like about it the most though is that you can actually see the time frames that you were walking the most!

See! You can tell about when I went to work (because I don’t carry my phone with me when I’m just at my apartment) and about the time I got off just by my steps! It’s the small things that amuse me! Okay, random side note about walking is done.

Anyways, today I woke up later than planned so I wasn’t able to get in my workout before I went to church. In fact, I made it to church with only five minutes to spare when normally I’m there 20 minutes early! So after the service was done, I came back to my apartment and got pilates day six done with before I did anything else.

Today was all about arms and there was nothing “fun” while doing those workouts. My arms and shoulders were aching and I really wanted to stop but I kept pushing through. When the video was over, I was so proud of myself for not stopping!

Next on the agenda for today was a few simple stretches to work on doing the splits. I actually surprised myself with how far I could actually still do them! I’ve been out of dance for almost six years now and have not done any stretches to stay as flexible since I stopped. So after the stretches leading up to the main event were done and it was time to actually time to try the splits, I was really happy to learn that I’m not too far from touching the ground!

So now even though it’s already the afternoon, I plan on spending the rest of my fun day off from work doing whatever I feel like. Honestly, that’s just me saying that I have no clue what I am going to do! I may go to the pool, clean my apartment, or even go on a afternoon walk around town. Who knows? Maybe I’ll do all those things plus some!

Back on Track

So after more sleep last night, I am feeling completely normal again! I’m glad it was just a 24 hour bug or something that I had! So since I’m feeling great, I got up and finished day five of the beginners pilates. Today was all about the abs and the butt. Can I just say, while I’m typing this all out, I have no idea what position to type in. It’s sore to sit but then at the same time it’s also pretty sore to lay day down. Woo for working new and old muscles! The pain is definitely worth it though because I can feel myself getting stronger everyday.

Some of the moves were the same as the very first video I completed on day one of the challenge and I was super happy when I finished them with a little more ease today! There was a lot more straight- leg workouts for the abs and every time I got through one without stopping to take a break or cheating a little by bending my leg during the video, I felt like getting up and doing a happy dance!

I really liked the moves from the pilates video today and I am excited for day six tomorrow! Now I just need to survive my eight hour shift at work and I’ll be good to go! Why am I a little nervous about surviving work? Because, though I work retail, I am constantly on my feet running around, climbing ladders, and moving heavy boxes. It’s good that work keeps me moving but with being sore from pilates, I just hope that I can keep moving until I leave!

Mid Day Struggle

Being that this is my first time actually having a daily workout plan, I knew that I would be sore but I didn’t know how to much to expect. And honestly, I was expecting a lot worse. But after doing the full body pilates exercises this morning and still trying to get over yesterdays ab workout, I am feeling a little sore this afternoon. So once I finish this, I’m going to go do some easy stretches to try to help a little!

Anyways, today I had my first time of thinking to myself is pilates actually worth doing? I started to think that maybe it was a pointless thing for me to do because how could someone like me ever achieve anything by doing it? “Me” meaning someone who isn’t in shape and struggles with some of the supposedly really easy and beginner moves. Instead of continuing to let bad thoughts enter my mind, I started to look up some fun and inspirational pictures about pilates and working out in general. Here are some of my favorites.

Do any of y’all have any fun or inspirational phrases that help you get through the tough times? If so, I would love to hear them!